First Haircut

Skyler had his first official "professional" haircut today at Wiggle Worms. He has had his haircut prior to this outing only at home by his dad.


Here he is with his sister Shayna in the waiting/play area:

Here he is during the haircut. The Elmo's World DVD was playing on the TV in front of him.

At this point he seems to have accepted it.

He got annoyed when she cut his bangs/front and when she used the shaver.

Here he is modeling his new do and enjoying his well earned lollipop!

Memorial Day Fun

We set up Skyler's new baby pool with the slide from the playground. Shayna and Skyler had fun sliding into the pool. Skyler got up and laughed after splashing down into the pool. It was 91 degrees today!

Fun at the PA State Fair

We went to the opening day of the PA State Fair today. Its a great deal, from 5-6 you get free admission and free rides. Shayna went on 6 rides including one with Manny where they "flew" through the air on thier bellies like flying, one with me where we rode through a haunted house, and one with Skyler.

Here is Shayna coming down the giant pink slide:

Shayna and Skyler on the car ride- his first ride:

Shayna milking a cow:

Shayna and Skyler feeding the goats. We spent a lot of time here because Skyler was having so much fun.

Soon after this Skyler fell asleep and we ate delicious funnel cake in front of the entrance to the sideshow/freakshow. Shayna and I went in to see the show but I won't share the photos of the cheesy things like the snake woman, headless woman, etc. Once inside they had a gimmick where they would do a magic trick by placing giant knives all over a box with a lady inside but you had to pay another dollar* to walk up the steps and look inside. They also had a special "secret bonus" feature behind the big curtains that you had to pay an extra dollar to see. We didn't bring in our purses and this is when we opted to leave. But what is a fair without a famous P.T. Barnum sideshow.

*we already paid $5 for both of us to get into the show.

We ended our visit truimphantly- Shayna climbed to the top of the ladder climb game*, rang the bell, and won a giant stuffed pony (you can see the blue and white pony in the photo below):

*the man running the game said Shayna was only the 2nd one to get to the top today.

Buckaroo Day

Shayna had Buckaroo Day today in the Valley 3rd grade. They wore cowboy/cowgirl attire. They did square dancing in the gym, then played games. Then in the afternoon they saw a movie about Annie Oakley and got to try different foods from the "Chuck Wagon" like cornbread (Shayna's favorite), chili, and rattlesnake. For more details go to Shayna's Blog and read what she wrote about Buckaroo Day (see the link to her blog under "Links" to the right).

Slide

While Shayna and I were at her last Choir rehersal/ceremony/party, Manny had Skyler outside playing on our playground on the side of the house. He climbed up and slid down the slide for the first time all by himself. He really likes to go down headfirst on his belly.

Then Wednesday night, apparently in slide withdrawal since he didn't play on the playground, he came up woth a makeshift "slide" using the magnetic letter/chalk board. Pretty creative of him!

Also, added onto his list of words that he says is "uh-oh."

Visitors

We had some visitors to our pool today. They don't seem to mind that its still green. We just opened it up Sunday and it will take maybe 1-2 weeks to get it nice and blue and clean again.

Letters

Skyler is learning his letters apparently, in spite of the fact that he only speaks a few actual words (ball, ma ma, no).

He can say: A,O,L, and E.

So he may read before he can talk.

Oregon trail project: Conestoga Wagon

PYC Spring Concert

Shayna had her Pennsylvania Youth Chorale Spring Concert tonight at the Langhorne Presbyterian Church. the Jr. choir sang songs in many different languages including dutch, czech, and latin. There were lots of surprises including a song accompanied with colorful scarves, another with a dance, and a finale that looked like a fun carnival. We had a special treat, Uncle Mike and Cousin Pete were in attendance. After the concert there was a reception with over 40 different goodies, and then Shayna and Pete ran up and down the hallway and into the "warm up" room. Later on the way home Shayna and I discussed what we thought the awful smell was in that same hallway, and Shayna said "that is the hallway of smell."
ps-Shayna also had about 4 inches cut off her hair today! Its still really long, instead of down to her butt its halfway down her back. Note to self: next time we will do one ponytail in back and then curl the ponytail with a curling iron and maybe add some glitter gel.

Tower

Good job!

SIP Trade Show-Inventions

Also on Friday may 19th, Shayna had her SIP Trade Show (special interest program, what the gifted/talented is called in elementary grades). The 3rd graders (Shayna, Timothy and AnnMarie) presented thier inventions. There was a 2:00pm and 2:20pm presentation for each 3rd grade class and any parents who attended. It was held in the SIP room in the back of the 4th grade pod. Shayna's invention is the "Health-O-Meter." You insert the end into a food item and it tells you information depending which button you push: calories, fat, sugar, enriched flour, carbohydrates.

The first 2 photos are of Shayna during her presentation:

After the presentation, Shayna gave each student a treat:

Valley Spring Concert

Shayna had a very busy day Friday May 19th.

First, at 9:30am was the Valley Spring Concert- for choir and band. The entire 3rd grade opened playing a Mozart song on thier recorders. Then they sang 3 songs. After the 3rd grade finished there was band and the 4th-6th grade chorus (this is for those who joined). I left after the band portion as I had work to do. See if you can spot Shayna:

Tennis Anyone?

Manny and I played tennis today at the high school. Shayna was our ball girl and Skyler entertained himself by running around the courts and doing this:
After we played we let the kids play. Shayna practiced hitting against the fence. Skyler grabbed a racket and ball, he wanted to play too. He figured it out on his own and was trying to hit the ball with the racket.
Here he is in action:

Rainy Monday

We couldn't go outside today as usual because it was raining. Shayna's class trip was cancelled. It was to a Native American event at Fairmount Park (see: http://www.greenmeadowsevents.com/nl/nl_home.htm).

Hopefully they will reschedule the 3rd grade for another different class trip (this event is only this week and its all booked).

Here is Skyler doing one of his favorite things, eating. First is him eating an apple and in the second photo eating his favorite brand of chocolate chip cookies- Entenman's - while sitting on his ride on toy Grandma & Grandpa gave him. He stored his magnetic letters under the seat.

Skyler is now 21mo!

The Zoo

For Mother's Day we took the kids to the Philadelphia Zoo. It was Skyler's first time at the zoo. He wasn't all that interested and when we let him freely roam around the children's zoo he went up to a kid and looked at him. In the barnyard area he just roamed around and paid no attention to the goats and sheep. We'll take him again in September when the new Big Cat exhibit is open (its opening may 25th but we won't go back until september when he's older and when its not hot anymore).

here he is checking out the elephants:

I had a great Mother's Day. Manny made me brunch: an egg white omelette with vidalia onion, green onion, spinach, tomatoes, and american cheese. We decided to skip the trendy brunch out at a restaurant (although I would have chosen Paradigm or Brasserie Perrier most likely). Then after the zoo we grilled Mahi Mahi and zuccini. I got a wonderful home made card from Shayna with a great rendition of the Ocean City Boardwalk and 2 wonderful gifts.

Tyler State Park

We went to Tyler State Park today for our walk. We walked about an hour on very hilly terrain. As usual, we always let Skyler out to walk for a bit with us. When he gets to the point where he lies on the ground in a tantrum then he goes back in the stroller. Once we get the tire fixed on the jogging stroller we can explore the unpaved trails (Skyler is too heavy for the Bjorn carrier). We didn't have time for the playground or to explore the "beach" so we'll do that next time.

Beautiful scenery...when we got to the old barn Skyler went to peek in the windows

First Word

Skyler said "ball" tonight for the first time. at first he said "ba" but then he said it as "ball." he would grab the ball, run into the kitchen, and then throw it.

Ball was also Shayna's first word- for her it was around 18mo when we were in California.

He has been saying "mama" for a while but to us this is his first word. So hopefully more will follow.

He has been using his own made up language- most recently he has been saying "ba ba Bao" a lot- sometimes with a stomp of his foot for emphasis. we haven't figured out what he means by that phrase.

Leaning tower of Tree

Manny started working on various projects around the house and some big gardening tasks. One of which is getting the "leaning tower of tree" chopped down, and another tree growing too close to the house. So he bought an axe and handsaw (just like the one in the movie Saw). Hopefully we can get the tree chopped down before it completely falls over onto the kids slide. Shayna had fun helping using both the axe and saw and in the pic below she is trimming using the other garden tool we frequently use (no idea what its called!). she is wearing the cullottes I got on sale at macy's (less then $12)...they are from Zoey 101, Britney's little sister.

Best Beau Dance

Manny and Shayna went to the Girl Scout father/daughter dance Friday night (which is known by its politically correct name of "Best Beau Dance.")

Shayna dancing with Juliana

Evidence

We discovered this footprint that the culprit had left last night, making a run for it after spilling baby cereal all over the floor:

PA Youth Chorale Day tour-Ocean City, NJ

Shayna had her day tour with the Pennsylvania Youth Chorale yesterday. They went to Ocean City, NJ to perform at St. John's Lutheran Church with the young cape singers. Manny, Skyler and I drove down to see the concert (which was at 1:15pm) and then meet up with Shayna at 5:30pm (after the concert they go with chaperones and go to the boardwalk). I dropped Shayna off at the bus at 8:45am. They got to ride in fancy tour buses.

Here is the Junior Choir performing. Shayna is on the bottom row, 2nd from right:

After the concert Manny, Skyler and I walked around. First we went to a block party/arts festival on Asbury Ave. It was about 8 blocks long! We ordered Skyler a personalized clock for his room and bought a Corian cutting board.

After walking through the entire art festival, we went to the boardwalk. Here we rested our feet and enjoyed the view and sun while Skyler got to run around.

After walking around on the boardwalk and grabbing a salad we went to 8th and the Boardwalk to meet Shayna at the bus. She was going home with us.

Once Shayna joined us we shopped some more (almost all the shops had tables outside and sales) and discovered Castaway Cove (rides) at 12th street was closed. I said we have to go onto the beach* so we explored the jetty at 7th street. The sun was setting so it was very pretty.

After the sun set we completed the perfect ocean city day by getting pizza at the famous Mack & Manco's. Wonderland at 4th St. was open for rides but the pizza took so long that it was getting too late and we still had to drive home.

We decided instead of the zoo (we will go in september instead) or sesame place (too overpriced) we would come back here for mother's day and go to the beach at 5th street...Manny will fish (a small jetty is right there) while we sit on the beach. We found a great place called hula grill on the boardwalk that has fresh fish that we plan to go to and will take the kids on the rides.

*I can't go to the shore and not go on the beach